NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Trident Medical Center held a free Stop the Bleed class on Saturday to train bystanders on how to respond in a bleeding emergency.

According to Trident Health, the class had nearly 60 attendants. This was the center’s largest class to date.

Over the two-and-a-half-hour training session, attendees learned how to pack bleeding wounds and apply a tourniquet to stop bleeding.

Andrea Brenner from McClellanville, SC attended the class on Saturday after the techniques recently saved her brother’s life in a motorcycle crash.

“Two girls who happened to have taken the Stop the Bleed class stopped to help him and it saved his life,” Brenner said. The incident inspired Brenner to take the class herself.

  • Andrea Brenner and Trident Medical Center EMS Coordinator Shane Grier (via Trident Health)
  • Andrea Brenner and Trident Medical Center EMS Coordinator Shane Grier (via Trident Health)

The course empowers people to assist in an emergency and possibly save a life.

Trident Medical Center Trauma Outreach Nurse Michelle Houck said a person can bleed out in just five minutes.

“Considering it may take EMS up to seven minutes to arrive at an emergency packing a bleeding wound and applying a tourniquet can save a life,” Houck said.